


no more substitutions

by menocchio



Series: rules don't apply [3]
Category: Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Dreams, Dueling POVs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:08:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28923336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menocchio/pseuds/menocchio
Summary: in their dreams that summer, johnny's not a coward and daniel's more forgiving
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Series: rules don't apply [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089869
Comments: 23
Kudos: 111





	no more substitutions

in their dreams that summer,  
johnny's not a coward and daniel's more forgiving  
  
---  
  
| 

|   
  
johnny finds the tree  
with the unripened nectarines on his walk  
back to town that morning.

| 

|   
  
he's thirsty, kinda  
hungover  
and in real life he bites  
into hard flesh  
winces at the bitterness;

| 

|   
  
keeps walking.

| 

|   
  
but in his dream he considers that firm,  
yellow fruit  
and turns around.

| 

|   
  
daniel is where he left him,  
still on his side, reaching  
to the spot where johnny no longer  
lies.

| 

|   
  
johnny hefts the nectarine,  
considers his target  
(remembering an apple, well-aimed last fall),  
but such happy fooling  
is not for now.

| 

|   
  
so he sets the nectarine  
atop the hood of the old ford.

| 

|   
  
he crawls,  
as is fitting,  
back on the ground. fits  
himself next to daniel  
lays his head on his own bent elbow  
and breathes.  
waiting to see his eyes

| 

| 

johnny comes crawling  
back in a day, maybe two.  
(even in his dreams, daniel's a realist)  
overcome  
and desperate,  
like maybe he hasn't been sleeping?  
and he tells daniel  
  
wanting  
to see them  
see him.

| 

| 

he just needed  
to see  
him.  
  
in the dream, he waits as long as it takes.

| 

|   
  
| 

| 

he only ever talks real  
by accident  
( _there's always another day_ , he once said  
easily; lying  
beside daniel on the wet grass, promising  
more to come)  
  
| 

| 

but it's daniel's dream,  
alright  
and in his dream, johnny says  
all the words usually abandoned  
in his gaze.  
  
| 

| 

and maybe at first daniel  
refuses him  
because what is sweeter  
than payback; leaving  
someone else burning  
for once.  
  
| 

| 

but this, of course, doesn't last.  
  
or he dreams of the night  
after their win:  
the beach, daniel  
as he was then, loose and open  
and wanting to be near him.

| 

| 

so skip back, redo; next night:  
johnny finds him  
and they're on the beach, why not,  
wind and sea spray stinging  
their eyes, lifting their hair  
  
daniel jumps on his back  
and johnny lets himself  
stumble and fall  
down to the cool sand.

| 

| 

and johnny swings him around  
(for daniel is the one running)  
and johnny says,  
he says:  
  
_what's the matter  
with you, tough guy,  
can't handle  
one little jersey kid?_

| 

| 

_ask me to stay  
and i'll stay. ask me to go  
and, well. please  
don't ask me to go._  
  
and johnny shuts him up with a kiss  
like he's wanted to do  
one thousand times.

| 

|   
  
he rolls and covers  
daniel's body  
with his own, because in the dream  
he is bulletproof.

| 

|   
  
surges over him  
that wave of want inside johnny,  
unstoppable, no matter  
how many times  
it goes out,  
always returning.

| 

|   
  
he kisses him  
until he's got contact buzz  
from the alcohol  
daniel's been drinking  
and no, that's not a thing  
but it should be.

| 

|   
  
he kisses him  
until daniel's dead sober  
and laughing into his mouth,  
calling him a moron  
because they coulda done this  
ages ago.

| 

|   
  
he kisses him  
until the tide comes  
in and the sun back  
up and the sand warms  
from something other than  
the heat of their bodies.

| 

| 

maybe time rolls  
on, the earth turns,  
and johnny goes to his apartment,  
lingers over the empty lot  
where they first made peace  
if not love.  
  
| 

| 

he panics when he finds  
they've moved again.  
the idea of daniel lost  
to him forever,  
unbearable.  
  
| 

| 

and like magic, or maybe just  
determination,  
that work ethic he applies  
to soccer and karate, everything  
he actually gives a shit about,  
johnny finds him  
at the dojo.  
  
| 

| 

he steps up to the fence  
that's never finished,  
and meets daniel's eyes  
over the boards.  
  
| 

| 

johnny is on his knees  
next to the pond  
and begging daniel  
to lean down; for once  
asking instead of bracing.  
  
| 

| 

and daniel takes care of him  
of course he does;  
it's all he wants.  
  
this next dream lingers for months:  
the day daniel kissed him

| 

| 

he's not expecting much,  
just everything.  
  
and johnny returned a fist.

| 

| 

all johnny can give him.  
  
| 

|   
  
it hurts to think  
it could've gone  
like this:

| 

| 

it stings to know  
this is how  
they should've been:  
  
| 

|   
  
johnny doesn't think, just acts.  
follows the yearning line  
of his body to its rightful conclusion  
and pulls daniel over him.  
  
reaching out with hope,  
fear a disused piece of equipment,  
forgotten, maybe in the shed behind them.  
  
daniel never compromises  
and this is no exception

| 

| 

no one is ever present  
in his own body like johnny  
  
knees tight  
against his ribs  
hands pinning johnny's wrists

| 

| 

when he strains  
up for daniel  
he does it with his whole self  
  
no morning, no field  
will ever be so open  
nor so wide  
as this might have been.  
  
they cannot feel  
the dew of the grass  
or sunlight on their skin.  
  
this is where it should have happened.  
  
on this pitch, where people  
routinely hold their breath  
and wait for the impossible.  
the miraculous goal;  
the unexpected win.  
  
summer dreams are made of the impossible,  
and summers only become great  
by reaching for it.  
  
but that summer  
the impossible was the hopeless  
dream, a dream  
that the other boy dreamed  
of him too.


End file.
